President Donald Trump on Wednesday defended Fox News star Bill O'Reilly, whose own network is reported to have paid out millions of dollars to multiple women who claim he sexually harassed them, describing the embattled news host as "a good person" who had done nothing wrong.

“I think [O'Reilly is] a person I know well — he is a good person,” Trump said.

More than 20 advertisers have pulled commercials from O'Reilly's show, after the New York Timesreported Saturday that Fox News had made payments totalling about $13 million to five women who accused the television star of acting inappropriately or sexually harassing them.

O'Reilly has denied any wrongdoing, insisting he is a target from women seeking to profit off his fame, and maintained he had to "put to rest any controversies to spare [his] children."

Last July, Trump also defended former Fox News chairman Roger Ailes after he resigned when he was accused of harassing multiple women.

"I can tell you that some of the women that are complaining, I know how much he's helped them," Trump told NBC's Meet the Press. "And when they write books that are fairly recently released, and they say wonderful things about him. And now, all of a sudden, they're saying these horrible things about him.

"It's very sad because he's a very good person," Trump said of his friend Ailes. "I've always found him to be just a very, very good person. And, by the way, a very, very talented person. Look what he's done. So, I feel very badly."

The president's defense of O'Reilly came in an interview in which he also accused former national security adviser Susan Rice of a crime for seeking the identifies of Trump associates mentioned in intelligence reports. However, he declined to offer any evidence to support his view.

Rice has said she asked for the identities of US citizens mentioned in intelligence reports on Russian meddling in the election, but has denied leaking their identities to the press.

A spokesperson for Rice told MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell, "I'm not going to dignify the president's ludicrous charge with a comment."

Trump told the Times he would offer more evidence for his claim "at the right time."

Despite agreeing to grant the exclusive interview to the New York Times, the president has repeatedly bashed the newspaper as "failing" and a peddler of "fake news" that is critical of his administration.

David Mack is a reporter and weekend editor for BuzzFeed News and is based in New York.